Doctors call for no smoking policy to be enforced

West Australian doctors are calling for stricter policing of no-smoking areas outside hospitals, with many patients continuing to smoke on hospital grounds.

The problem of patients who continued to smoke while hospitalised was highlighted in a recent US study, which found almost 20 per cent of the 5,000 patients examined were still finding a way to smoke during their hospitalisation.

The Australian Medical Association's David Mountain says the case is no different in Western Australia.

"It's ubiquitous, every day, every hour, there'll be somebody out there smoking," he said.

Mike Daube from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health says no-smoking areas should be better-policed.

"The hospital administrators don't see it as a high enough priority," he said.

He says there needs to be stricter policing of no-smoking areas outside hospitals.

The WA Health Department says it is committed to its smoke-free policy but concedes while improvements have been made in reducing smoking around the state's hospitals there is still room for improvement.